Friday, May 6, 2011

Our Wacky World—5/6/2011

"Even when the students eliminated political predictions and looked only at predictions for the economy and social issues, they found that liberals still do better than conservatives at prediction. ... those prognosticators with a law degree were more likely to be wrong."

This is a classic. Dr. Harriet Hall describes in detail what happened when she dared to criticize a bogus weight loss product/multi-level marketing scheme on-line. Cue the terminally clueless comments:

"It was as if no one had actually read what I wrote. No one bothered to address any of my specific criticisms. No one even tried to defend Isagenix's false claims... No one offered any evidence that “detoxification” improves human health. No one tried to identify any of the alleged toxins or show that they are actually removed... No one commented when I observed that the amount of vitamin A in these products is dangerous and goes against the recommendations of the Medical Letter... I offered some alternative explanations that might account for people believing that Isagenix is effective when it isn't; no one commented on that."

"...the Texas House has proposed slashing $27 billion from the budget, including huge cuts to education, nursing homes, and health care for the poor. Yet last Friday, the Texas House Ways and Means Committee approved a tax break for those who want to buy yachts costing $250,000 or more."

'"The manager tried to repossess the computer because he mistakenly believed the Byrds hadn't paid off their rent-to-own agreement. When Brian Byrd showed the manager a signed receipt, the manager showed Byrd a picture of Byrd using the computer — taken by the computer's webcam.... Byrd demanded to know where the picture came from, and the manager "responded that he was not supposed to disclose that Aaron's had the photograph"'

Black helicopters are real: "The helicopters that flew the Navy SEALs on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden were a radar-evading variant of the special operations MH-60 Black Hawk, according to a retired special operations aviator."

"The wall that shielded Bishop Raymond Lahey's secret life of depravity collapsed in an instant after a simple question from an airport customs agent: do you have a laptop? ...his relaxed tone changed noticeably and he grew anxious when the specific question was asked — three times."

'The most memorable case of delusions of parasitism I have seen was a patient who [sic] I saw in clinic who, while we talked, ate a raw garlic clove about every minute. “Why the garlic?” I asked. “To keep the parasites at bay,” he told me. I asked him to describe the parasite. He told me they floated in the air, fell on his skin, and then burrowed in. Then he later plucked them out of his nose. At this point he took out a large bottle that rattled as he shook it. “I keep them in here,” he said as he screwed off the lid and dumped about 3 cups with of dried boogers on the exam table.'